Storage and management of inventory is a critical function of many businesses, including the manufacturing, retail, and shipping industries. For efficiency purposes, it is desirable to communicate product information to a centralized inventory tracking system as the product is being removed or placed on shelves, rather than requiring a separate entry of product information at a central location after removal or placement of the product.
One conventional method for communicating product information to an inventory tracking system includes UPC bar codes that are placed on the products and portable bar code scanners that are carried by the workers manipulating the product. Portable bar code scanners are typically plugged in as an attachment to a portable electronic device such as a mobile computer device. The scanners are used to scan the codes of UPC labels or information on a variety of different items for the purpose of managing, storing, shipping, or otherwise handling such items. Such scanners use optical light signals that are passed over the UPC does to read the codes. Generally, the scanners are pointed at the UPC codes.
Other methods for communicating product information to an inventory tracking system may use radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. When used on products as an inventory label, RFID tags can communicate data to an RFID reader somewhat similar to a UPC code. An RFID tag includes a microchip with data, an antenna, and sometimes a power source such as a battery (e.g. active RFID tag). An RFID reader also has an antenna, and the RFID reader's antenna transmits electromagnetic energy in the form of an RF beam or radio waves to the vicinity of the RFID tags. Each RFID tag that is located within the range of the RFID reader then energizes and sends identification information back to the RFID reader via RF radio signals.